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Over the Weekend (June 23 Edition)

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Some videos to help you get over that heartbreaking…tie against Portugal.

Interpol just released the video for “Anywhere” from their upcoming album El Pintor, and it’s a live version shot in an “amateur” style from one of their recent shows.  Musically, it sounds like one of their usual busier, uptempo numbers, but it should be enough to get the crowd pumped at future shows.

Courtesy of the Everybody Loves Our Town Tumblr, we have footage from a recent Pearl Jam show that has gone somewhat viral over the weekend.  As per their usual, Pearl Jam tagged the end of “Daughter” with their cover of “It’s OK” by Portland punks Dead Moon, but this time Eddie sang a bit of the Oscar-winning song “Let It Go” from Frozen.  Since I do not have any children, this is the first time I’ve actually heard the song, so I finally have an idea what everyone is referencing; Eddie seems to miss a couple of notes, but hey, it’s a live improv and he’s fitting it to the chord progression of a different song, so I won’t bust him too much.

We mentioned previously that Soundgarden did a special show where they played Superunknown in its entirety, and here’s the audio of that full show, with additional interviews from the band.

And finally, SPIN has a couple of videos worth checking out: one is footage of Real Estate performing a stripped-down set which includes a cover of Weezer’s “Say It Ain’t So”, and the other is a joke interview of TV on the Radio with SNL’s Vanessa Bayer.  If you go to the YouTube page of the latter, there should be links to other “Sound Advice” interviews.

Catching Up On The Week (June 20 Edition)

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Only a few #longreads this week, which is OK, because you should probably be out enjoying the first official weekend of summer.

The most significant news of the week has probably been the breakdown in negotiations between various independent labels and YouTube over the terms of a new subscription service.  Consequence of Sound has a piece providing details how a potential block on videos would work, and Billboard has specifics on the contract details, breaking down exactly how the various services work with the labels.  Both pieces get pretty technical, so you should probably read them at a point when say, a soccer game isn’t happening at the same time.

The Atlantic has a great piece with Hamilton Leithauser, who explains how Elvis proves that there is such a thing as “brilliant nonsense” when it comes to write lyrics, and goes on to detail his own process in coming up with lyrics.

OK Go released a new music video this week, and though we don’t have an article to go along with it, we’re posting it now instead of waiting until Monday so that you have time over the weekend to find all the optical illusions.

The AV Club featured a great write-up about how Tool’s Lateralus was able to break through and reach the number one spot, and represented not only a commercial high point for metal but an artistic one as well.

Continuing with the theme that 2014 is the Year of Nostalgia, Stereogum has write-ups on the 20th anniversary of Rancid’s Let Go (which immediately prompts the reaction of “Is this necessary?  …And Out Come the Wolves would be understandable, but not this”) and Guided By Voices’ Bee Thousand (understandable).  In further GBV news, it was announced that Dogfish Head brewery will be whipping up a special batch in honor of the anniversary, called “Beer Thousand”.  I believe that Stephen Thomas Erlewine had the best quip about the news.

Over the Weekend (June 16 Edition)

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Now that we’re all properly psyched up after the US victory over Ghana in the World Cup, let’s get to some cool videos

Our favorite news from last week, which we mentioned on our Tumblr, was the announcement that Death From Above 1979 will finally record a follow-up to their stunning debut You’re a Woman, I’m a Machine.  I’ve listened to this album hundreds of times since its release (and the handful of oddball EPs and singles to help complete the short catalog), and it never gets old.  The Tumblr post has the video of one of the coolest late night performances you’ll ever see, with the band performing on Conan with a special guest who arrives halfway through the song, so check that out.  We’ll see if this song makes the new album:

Speaking of Conan, Jack White visited his show last week, and SPIN has the link to their extended interview, plus a funny bit where Conan had interns stand-in for Jack White and his band during rehearsal.

Mastodon released a video for their single “High Road”, and this one features some LARPers in a fierce battle.

The first few minutes of the new Elliott Smith biopic have been released and are available for viewing; I’m linking to the Pitchfork announcement because it also includes a link to their extensive oral history on Elliott, which is definitely worth reading if you have the time.

And finally, Ray & Ramora shot a fun video for their cover of Pavement’s “Gold Soundz” which features a bunch of cool random cameos, including Kim Gordon, Jeff Goldblum, and Stephen Malkmus himself.  As for the cover itself, it’s an interesting pop take on the song that works pretty well.

Catching Up On The Week (June 13 Edition)

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For those of you who survive Friday the 13th and the full moon, here are some #longreads to get around to on your weekend.

Earlier this week, we had our review of Hamilton Leithauser’s solo debut, but for those of you who need an additional fix of The Walkmen, Drowned in Sound has the stream for Peter Matthew Bauer’s solo record Liberation! available on their site.  The stream wasn’t working for me when I checked, but maybe it will for you; at the very least, you can read Bauer’s track-by-track guide to the album.

Next week also sees the release of Familiars from the Antlers, and Pitchfork caught up with them for an interview.  The band talks about a couple of unexpected inspirations for the new album, including Twin Peaks and The Tibetan Book of the Dead.

Johnny Greenwood recently announced that Radiohead is taking a year off, which I guess counts as news if you were looking around and noticed, hey, it’s been…over a year since The King of Limbs, but people are reporting this anyway.  Read up to see what adventures Johnny has gone on in the meantime, and while you do that, be sure to check out these pictures that fifth graders drew after being subjected to Hail to the Thief.

Stereogum has a look back at Hot Fuss, since we celebrate the ten year anniversary of every decent album that we at the very least half-way remember/are likely to sing a couple songs while drunk at karaoke.  (Everybody thinks that they can sing “All These Things That I’ve Done”, but it’s tougher than it seems–they could probably do “Mr. Brightside” however, since the vocal melody is basically the same pitch throughout the song (that said, I still enjoy the album)).  However, this provides an interesting behind-the-scenes look in the days before their breakthrough release, and is worth checking out.

AV Club finishes up their “Fear of a Punk Decade” feature with a look at 1999 and…Jimmy Eat World, because that pretty much says everything you need to remember about punk in 1999.  Granted, there’s a much more in-depth discussion of a lot of other bands, but let it be known that was the hook to get you reading.

Normally we tend to keep things strictly music-related on this site, but considering the subject’s connection to music, we’ll say that you should take a look at The Hollywood Reporter’s quest  for answers to the suicide of Searching for Sugarman director Malik Bendjelloul.

And finally, SPIN interviews Dylan Baldi of Cloud Nothings about his recent collaboration with Wavves.  We’re pretty excited to see what the final result of that combination will be.

Over the Weekend (June 9 Edition)

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Let’s kick off the week with some fun videos and some new music, shall we?

Probably the best thing that I saw this weekend (aside from the news that Bill Watterson made a surprise return to the comics page) was this video of Sir Mix-a-Lot performing his classic hit “Baby Got Back” with the Seattle Symphony.  The last time we saw this kind of synergy between the classical music and hip-hop worlds was back at the ’96 Hullabalooza Festival, when the London Symphony Orchestra performed “Insane in the Brain” with Cypress Hill.

It’s definitely worth checking out the Oral History of the song as well.

That was not the only salacious thing to happen this weekend–it appears that Neil Young’s Twitter account was hacked, and followers ended up receiving a bunch of porn suggestions.  Apparently, all is well now, so you’ll need to check in with another classic rock legend for your porn fix (as a commenter pointed out, David Crosby would probably be a great bet).

The biggest news from this morning (or late last night, if you were up) was the surprise release of the first half of the new double-LP from Death Grips, the powers that b (though they do have a penchant for this sort of thing).  It’s available for free from their Facebook, and after a couple of listens this afternoon, I can say it’s actually a less-rambunctious release than you might expect (I do love that the automatic genre tag that appears when you load into iTunes is “Pop”, though).  And you’ll see a lot of mention that Björk does guest vocals on each track, though her appearance shouldn’t be that much of a surprise.

A couple of links to check out from NPR–first, there’s Spoon performing the brand new track “Rent I Pay” live in New York; and speaking of New York, they also have the early stream of Familiars from NYC’s The Antlers.  In the email sent to fans about the stream, The Antlers mentioned that there will be limited edition white label copies of the LP available at some of the band’s favorite independent record stores.

Pitchfork has Father John Misty performing a cover of recent Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Cat Stevens’s “Trouble”, released as part of the soundtrack to a documentary on Hal Ashby.  The site also has news that Steven Drozd and Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips are releasing an album as “Electric Würms”, with Steven assuming more traditional front-man duties and Wayne backing on bass.

And finally, because we’re always fans of what our favorite Portland heavy metal band is up to, check out Red Fang discussing their influences in this interview with Loudwire.  A few of their choices may surprise you.

Catching Up On The Week (June 6 Edition)

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Lots of news and profiles and interviews for a weekend of #longreads.

Interpol announced that they will be releasing their new album entitled El Pintor this fall, on September 9.  If you’re wondering about the name, yes, it is Spanish (for “the painter”), but if you look closely, you should realize it’s an anagram of the band’s name (the stunning cover art helps a little bit in making the connection).  It appears they haven’t officially replaced departed bassist Carlos D, as Paul Banks assumed bass duties for the album in addition to his vocal and guitar work.

We finally got official word that the new Spoon album will be released on August 5, and it’s to be called They Want My Soul.  We’re still not exactly sure what the “R.I.P. June 10” business is quite yet, but it makes sense considering the album title.  Check out this great interview that the band did with NPR.

If you didn’t get your fill of Soundgarden from our Feats of Strength analysis this week, be sure to check out these interviews with the band.  At Ultimate Guitar the band answered questions from fans covering a lot of the technical details of their playing, and at Consequence of Sound there’s a retrospective about the production of Superunknown that’s fairly illuminating.  And if that’s not enough, SPIN has an extensive oral history that looks at the making of the landmark album.

AV Club takes a look at Travis’s The Man Who for their Permanent Records feature through the lens of their influence on Coldplay, while making a case for the album on its own merits.  I have long been a fan of that album, not just for their adolescence-ready lyrical themes (is there a more universal sentiment than wondering at some point “why does it always rain on me?”), but also for some gorgeous guitar work.  The solo in “As You Are” has to rank among the high points of music in 1999, not necessarily for its technical merits but for its ability to capture the emotional climax of the song.

This week saw some big new album releases for indie rock, and we’ll be working our way through reviews soon, but in the mean time you can look at multiple interviews with Parquet Courts, one with the New York Times and another with Stereogum, and if you’re looking to get into the post-hardcore sound of Fucked Up but are not quite sure you’re ready for it, Stereogum’s top ten should provide a useful guide.

As I’ve said before, 1994 was a huge year in music, so there’s going to be a ton of retrospectives this year.  This week, the eyes of nostalgia turn to Stone Temple Pilots, as Stereogum celebrates the release of Purple, probably their best album (though contrary to their claim, the band never was and never will be better than Pearl Jam; let’s just acknowledge STP was better than their detractors claim and move on).

And finally, since the weather seems to have officially changed into summer, now’s the perfect time to check out this look back at the beginning of Warren G’s career and his influence on the rise of G-Funk, courtesy of Pitchfork.

Over the Weekend (June 2 Edition)

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We’re gearing up for a big month of new music, so we have a couple of videos to help you get ready.

The solo debut of Hamilton Leithauser of The Walkmen will be released tomorrow, and he’s done a great job with teasing us with videos leading up to the release.  First, there was the behind-the-scenes of the showgirl revue for the upbeat “Alexandra”, and just last week saw the release of the modified lyric video for “I’m Retired”.  We’re going to put the spotlight on “11 O’Clock Friday Night” (a perfect song for a Monday) however, just so we can see some footage of marching bands from the area that I once called home long ago.

Tomorrow is also the release date for Fucked Up’s Glass Boys, and you can prep yourself with their video for the song “Sun Glass”.

We have Jack White’s second solo album to look forward to next week, but for those of you who are a bit impatient, Pitchfork has the link to the stream of Lazaretto available for you to listen to now.

And finally, confirming what we all should have expected, Mike D announced that he and Ad Rock will no longer release music under the “Beastie Boys” name with the recent passing of MCA.  Normally I would use this opportunity as an excuse to post the video to “Sabotage”, but AV Club beat me to the punch with their story.

Catching Up On The Week (May 30 Edition)

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We hope you’re as ready for the weekend as we are; if so, here are some #longreads for your pleasure.

We here at RIJR been enjoying the latest album from The Roots, …And Then You Shoot Your Cousin, and though it’s unlikely we’ll provide a full review, we’ll link to someone else who might help fill the gap…like the drummer for The Roots, ?uestlove.  He wrote a series of essays for New York Magazine talking about the state of hip-hop and black culture, providing context for the story behind their new album.  You can find the first essay here, which should then lead you to the next five parts.

New York Magazine has another big feature this week, as Jody Rosen wrote a column called “In Defense of Schlock”.  You can imagine what it covers–namely, a defense of what is unfairly perceived as “low-brow”.  The top 150 songs list is pretty good, but at a certain point I have to say we disagree on what “schlock” is exactly.

We mentioned earlier this week that Steve Perry made his first public appearance as a singer in nearly two decades at a recent Eels concert, and Stereogum has an interview with E on how it happened.  Again, it’s always worth checking out Eels live.

With Parquet Courts’ new album Sunbathing Animal coming out next week, now’s a good time to read up on Steven Hyden’s entertaining interview with the band at a bowling alley.

And finally, the Primavera Sound Festival is happening in Barcelona right now, which for many of you probably doesn’t mean that much, but since you’re viewing this on the internet, hey, there’s a solution–they’re streaming many of the acts through their website.  That said, it’s kind of bullshit that the Slowdive performance isn’t airing, even though that’s the only reason I care about the festival.

Over the Weekend (May 27 Edition)

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We took the day off yesterday in recognition of Memorial Day.  This is how we at RIJR celebrated, with Gary Clark Jr.’s superb rendition of the National Anthem from this year’s NBA All-Star Game.

The Atlantic had a nice piece where they asked musicians their thoughts on what the most influential song in history was.  Personally, I felt that Walter Martin, formerly of The Walkmen, gave the best answer.

Speaking of The Walkmen, Hamilton Leithauser’s solo debut Black Hours is available for streaming on the NPR website; they also have a stream of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah’s Only Run up as well.  Next week sees some other highly anticipated new albums, including Sunbathing Animal from Parquet Courts and Glass Boys from Fucked Up.  Pitchfork has the streams for both.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: it’s always worth seeing Eels live.  You never know what kind of set you get, from a somber strings-enriched performance to a retro-variety hour show, or having Steve Perry from Journey randomly showing up and performing live for the first time in nearly two decades.

Chris Cornell gave a quick interview to Rolling Stone talking about looking back to the days of Superunknown.  The best part of the interview was the discussion about his interactions with Artis the Spoonman, giving new insight into their relationship.

Finally, I think that I need to inform our audience that a banjo cover of Slayer’s “Raining Blood” exists.  And it’s not bad.

Catching Up On The Week (May 23 Edition)

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We hope everyone has an enjoyable Memorial Day weekend, and if you find yourself with some time on your hands, here are a few handy #longreads.

We’ve had previous coverage on the Will Ferrell/Chad Smith drum-off before, and last night the two finally battled it out to see who is the superior look-alike.  Rolling Stone has a write-up and video of their joint appearance on The Tonight Show, and yes cowbell is involved.  For those who want to minimize their exposure to Jimmy Fallon, here’s the footage of the face-off.

Jack White is doing the rounds in preparation for the release of his newest solo effort, and a wide-ranging interview with Rolling Stone is getting some attention.  Since I got the news secondhand, I’m linking to the SPIN article discussing some of the highlights, such as his relationship these days with Meg White and the fact that he doesn’t use a cell phone.

SPIN got their own scoop when they interviewed The Antlers for their upcoming album, and the band discusses their different approach for Familiars.

The Quietus talked to Joey Santiago of the Pixies and he discussed his 13 favorite albums with the magazine.

And so that you’re all caught up when you’re back at work next week, here’s the article discussing Tupac’s last words before he died.